A wave?

I come to find today that Morgan and Adam have been practicing waving "good bye" to Adam when he leaves her at Mary's in the morning. It's the next milestone that we're actively working on (besides all the gross motor stuff...well, and everything). Morgan had another lovely bath this evening and when we turned to say "bye!" to the baby in the mirror. I am not 100% sure, but Morgan raised her left hand about 40 degrees and squeezed her fingers twice like the bye bye motion I was doing with my fingers. Was it a wave? It might have been...I'll wait and see if it's truly a wave when she waves bye to Adam in the morning. Likely soon?

Adam just informed me that for the rest of his MBA classes left after the ones he's signed up for now and this summer (there are 2 left after summer), they are both only offered in fall. Fall? What? Graduate in December? Deal. DEAL!!! Drawback - paying some major taxes as a result. Don't ask. It just results in us paying more taxes. I personally think it will be worth every penny to have this MBA thing done. Woo hoo!! Graduation December 2010 here we come! Now, what to get the guy who has everything...

Off to pack the dogs for the trip home this weekend. I'm so excited for it. It's been wayyyyy too long.

Bye Bye for GOOD Fever Fairy

It's been a few days but in that time, lots has happened. Some good, some bad, some downright ugly. Here goes...

Morgan had yet ANOTHER fever. We went to a birthday party Sunday afternoon and by the time she got home, bam. 102.4. WTH?? Tylenol, up rocking with the baby, and it came down enough for her to go to daycare. She battled it a bit yesterday but so far so good today...fingers crossed it's gone for good.

Morgan also got her first major owie on Sunday at the birthday party. A lovely little boy (he's really really cute) who's only 2;4 years old may have misunderstood when his mom said "give Morgan her toy back..." Turns out it was a rather heavy toy and no one was looking when he "gave" it back...he thought give meant throw. Needless to say, Morgan took a car/driver toy to the eyebrow and ouch. No wait, it gets worse. Remember how I've mentioned that I cry when she gets her shots? Apparently I also cry when she takes a 4lb toy to the head. SO embarrassed after all was said and done. It's not like he did it on purpose. It's not like she was really that hurt. Sigh. I'll get over this 'crying when she's hurting' thing. Just a little sheepishly for the moment. I think it's b/c I don't see her as being old enough to be tough about that stuff yet...once she's walking though, it's a different story.

Here's a downer paragraph but I feel the need to post about it...one of the para-educators at my elementary school (Wilson) passed away after a horrendous car accident over the weekend that also took the lives of her two young daughters. It really hit me hard by last night even though I wasn't at the school yesterday. Things had settled at school by the time I got there today but it's just so sad. Could you imagine? I couldn't imagine leaving this earth with Morgan and leaving Adam here alone. I couldn't imagine if it happened to Adam and Morgan. Or any family. No one should have to lose their family that way. Sigh. On to memorials and donations for the family. And to top it all off, she was really good at her job. Good paras are not easy to come by.

On some lighter notes, here are some things Morgan's up to...

• We're SO excited - she's starting to really get good at her pincer grasp and pick up little food and feed herself. Unless it sticks to her finger. Then she makes faces and shakes her hand until it falls off.
  
• Morgan now likes to stand at her activity table (we have to put her there, she's not pulling herself up yet) for several minutes at a time and L.O.V.E.S. it. She still needs the recliner or one of us behind her to catch her but I'm a little impressed that she can do that at just 7 months old.
• No teeth. I'm almost ready to give up hope. Dear God, please send teeth by the time she's 2 so I don't have to puree everything for her. Amen.
• She's responding to her name more than 50% of the time now. She does NOT care to respond to no yet.
• Tonight after Adam had finished playing with Morgan, I came into the living room to find her just about to (and then did) put a dog bone in her mouth. Ew. Completely bound to happen at some point. Still ew.
  
• Morgan now has so many sounds she uses (added the /n/ sound this morning!) so here's what she's got: /m, b, p (this one's cute, she does a silent little "pwho"sound), n, t, d (it's constant dada's around this house), w, occasional bl for blah (I'm not kidding. She says blah blah blah sometimes - I checked to see if she was really using the blend and she is)/ and maybe a few others I can't remember. That was a lot in between. Condensed version - /m, b, p, n, t, d, w, bl/. I LOVE all her talking.
  

Adam started another class tonight. It goes from 6-10pm T/TH nights for a month. He officially has less than a year until graduation as he should graduate in May 2011. Fingers crossed that the classes he needs are offered at the right times! PS. I'm crazy proud of him for doing this. I could not go back to school with our lives the way they are right now.

I'm also grappling with some other things right now dealing with time/hobbies/Adam being home but don't feel like writing about it now. Maybe next time. Or the time after.

Off to find a healthy snack. Not talking about weight. Not doing it. The end.

Wah Lah! Pictures :-D

Enjoy!! These pictures are from mid/end of April to now. I NEED to get better at this...and I think I found a way. I LOVE looking back at these and seeing how she's changed in such a short amount of time.

Sitting on the blanket while mom plants a shrub.

Top view. :)

Morgan watching ESPN with her morning bottle. Adam, are you serious? Please give the kid some Mickey Mouse where she can learn to count to three. She won't get ERAs for a while yet.

For some reason she LOVES chewing on the bars of her play mat. No, it's not teeth. We're not even CLOSE to those yet.

Sleepy sweetheart.

Morgan can now hang out on all 4s if someone tucks her knees under her. She doesn't go anywhere quite yet though...
::wonders how long I'll be able to say that::

Morgan LOVES hanging out with Aunt Steph!!

Morgan was given a new jacket from San Francisco from Adam's parents. She likes it.

The following are Mother's Day pictures...too many to caption them all. :)




Sad sick baby...

Playin' with Grandpa Al


Got sweet potatoes?


Talking with Uncle Jason.



Pictures of our first family trip to Niabi Zoo in the Quad Cities. Fun time!





Shots the day before turning 7 months (see the little leg bandaids?)

7 months old! (05/19/2010)

Eating the paper. Shocker.

Trying to help take pictures.

She can get her bum off the ground now!

Morgan likes to stand at her favorite toy - her activity table - and can do so for about 1-3 minutes without falling!

Woah!

First trip to the Driving Range

Morgan had her first trip to the driving range at the Muscatine Municipal Golf Course. She came in and helped us get tokens. She helped us get the balls out of the machine. She supervised our swings. She tried chewing a hole through one of Adam's golf club covers. I think she's ready. Well, once she can stand of course. Who am I kidding? She tipped over twice while sitting today. (This makes me usually laugh...she just looks at me like 'uh oh...' and falls over. Hysterical.) Either way, she seemed to enjoy it. Then once we got home the she-child ate more than I've seen her eat in quite some time...spoon in mouth, swallow, yell, mouth open waiting, mom starts shoveling. :)

I got pedis with the girls today after our work meetings. That were mostly a waste of time. But the pedis at the end were worth it. Still waiting and praying for Denise and Travis to come to a decision they're comfortable with for jobs/home. Adam was able to pick up Morgan from daycare and I really enjoyed not having to rush home once.

Speaking of Morgan and daycare, Mary reported yesterday that Morgan now does some preliminary forward scooting on her heiny to get to things she wants. We're barely seeing it here, but it's fun to think of her as a mobile being...but not quite yet. We also were told Morgan needs more tummy time. Again. Makes us feel like we're doing it wrong (parenting). But Mary guides us in such a way that we never feel like we're bad at this. We routinely worry that Morgan is behind or not advanced. Today I read that kids her age are sometimes waving now. Guess what we'll be working on? :)

I think that's all. Morgan's rash is almost nonexistent and that's exciting. Jessie went on the table this morning (BAD DOG!) and stole one of my meds for my throat. We got it out before she swallowed or dissolved it but I guess I'll be one short on this prescription. Stupid dog. Now that's it. It's weekend time. :)

PS. I know, I know. Pictures soon. I think. :)

7 Months Old 05/19/2010

Morgan is 7 months old today. I took pictures of her independently standing at her activity table (ok, the recliner was behind her to catch her heiny) and she only fell over once. :) She was kind of crabby today which was fitting as I am now sick too. Yup. Another doctor's appt this morning for me. The meds I'm on do not allow for nursing. Last night was it. It didn't effect me as much as I thought it would although I'm still sad when I think about it.

My quick strep test was negative for strep but I have a big white spot on my tonsil, my throat looked red and terrible to the doctor, and it hurts a bit to swallow. At least I was able to sit at my desk and do paperwork all day. I'm VERY pleased with how caught up I got. Not so much with the 6 kids I missed. :(

Ok, I'm so tired I'm going to fall asleep and drool on my keyboard. Pictures later...again. I know. I suck at this game.

Happy 7 months, Morgan! We've loved every minute of it and are SO proud to have you. You're getting to be SUCH a big girl. :)

Thrush, Shots, and more

Today was slated for Morgan to get her 6 month shots (yes, I realize she's 7 months old tomorrow...see previous post for reasons). I had a mental note to have her check Morgan's persistent diaper rash and see if there was anything we needed to do further to get rid of it since Desitin and Butt Paste weren't even touching it. So we get to the doctor's at 3:58 for our 4:00pm appointment...only to find that they were running 45 minutes behind. Oh well, Morgan is one of the most adaptable babies now so we were fine playing with mom's shirt, necklace, teething ring, paper, dad's watch, etc. :) She told the waiting room patients lots of stories and waited rather well especially since it was right through her bottle time. So finally in we go.

Things moved quickly once we were in. To make a long story short, here are the quick highlights:

• Weight was 18.9lbs with clothes on so that's a little high than what she really weighs.
• Her ear was clear! Yeah! And no digging to get ear wax out.

Dr. Galoso finally takes a peek in her screaming mouth (don't look in my ears!!) and starts really poking around. I thought she might be looking for teeth and was just about to tell her not to look too hard as I had just checked and there weren't even little bumps there. I hear "see these white spots..." and I knew it. She has Thrush. Read WebMD at this website for clearer info than what I'm about to write: http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/guide/dental-health-thrush. It's basically a relatively common problem in infants as a side effect of being on medication (she was on amoxicilin for her ear infection). It can be painful but she's not showing any signs of pain as she's actually eating significantly better the past few days.

Course of action - MORE antibiotics. Boo. This time we have to take a q-tip (sterile ones, mind you) and swab pretty much the entire surface inside her mouth. Thank GOD the Rx tastes ok and she's used to Rx from her amoxicilin or this could get ugly. She (and I) have a topical cream that goes on her cheeks, neck, and "area" (what "parts" are referred to as in our house...might be TMI) 4x/day until it all goes away. I get to use it too on the girls since Morgan is still nursing. I had been wondering if I had caught something from her b/c nursing was a little tender and I'd had some dry skin in that area...never put 2&2 together to get Thrush though.

Adam and I disinfected all her toys this evening while watching the Biggest Loser. I read that I need to throw out all her bottle nipples and buy new ones. There goes another $20 if I can find the ones I like without buying all new bottles too. She'll get daily baths instead of every other day until this is over. She also cannot have any wipes used on her and has to be washed off with soap and water at every diaper change. Fun. But I was thinking about this while I was nursing her for what I thought was the last time (It's not. I'm going until Saturday as planned.), if the doctor told us that standing on our heads for an hour each day for 2 weeks would cure any ailment she had, we'd do it. Minor setbacks. I just feel like I've been in the doctor's office a LOT in the past few weeks (which I have, truly) and that Morgan has been taking a never-ending stream of medications. In the grand scheme of things, it's NO big deal and we're lucky she's healthy and having normal childhood illnesses.

I know I said I'd post pictures soon. I'm going to say Wed/Thursday night. Sorry. Oh, and to top it all off, Morgan can't go swimming yet AGAIN this week due to the bumps/tiny sores potentially being aggravated by the chlorine and the fact that she's contagious in a swimming pool setting. Sigh. Next week I guess.

I think that's it for now. Oh wait!! Morgan is at the CUSP of some serious moves toward crawling. Tonight she actually put her own bum up in the air while on her hands (resulting in her being on hands and knees) while her feet were pushed up against my legs or Adam's hands. We have a feeling (as does Mary, our sitter) that once this kid decides to be mobile, she's off to the races. Yikes. :-D I know people keep saying not to wish for mobility, but I'm so excited to see her move! She also does this cute little "hop" thing while sitting. She sits, gets excited, and kind of hops on her bum. Too funny.

One other AWESOME thing I discovered early this week - my stretch marks are 85% gone. By gone, I mean gone GONE GONE!!! I still have some on the left side of the front of my stomach but they are disappearing fast. I can't believe it. I'm SO lucky. We'll see what happens when it's time for Schmidty #2. ;-)

Now that's it. Pictures soon. As of tomorrow night, I will have a 7-month-old daughter. Holy $h!t.

Let's play catch-up

Hi!! It feels like it's been forever since I posted last...things have significantly improved since I did and I'm on the track to the next step of Morgan getting older/bigger. I'm still anxious about weaning and having that be final, but I have a plan and that should help. On Wednesday morning I am going to nurse her for the last time in the morning. I don't think she's going to miss this nursing at all to be honest. Then Saturday night will be her last bedtime nursing and she'll be strictly a bottle baby. I'm pretty eager for a regular monthly visit since #3 is still hanging around. :-/

I had big plans to sit on our home PC and post a ton of pictures on FB and the blog, as well as email some out to friends/family. Welllllll....the battery died on the camera and it won't download them all. New plan - write everything while the battery charges just enough to get the pictures off the camera. :) I'm sure I'll be able to write "see pictures below/around" in a bit. :)

Morgan's newest big-girl things include: she eats from our plates at pretty much every meal and LOVES it. At Olive Garden last night she ate the inside of a breadstick, potatoes from my soup, noodles from my pasta, and of course, water out of the straw (loves this). Morgan now stands at her activity table as long as someone holds it in place to keep her from pushing it away. She *may* lean her belly against it some...but she loves to stand at it and play! Morgan is close to leaning forward far enough to get onto her belly while sitting. In order to avoid this, she becomes the bendiest baby ever and can lean to reach a million things that one could swear is out of her reach. We're working on it though...and I am willing to bet that as soon as she gets this she might be on her way to some army crawling. We. Shall. See.

Morgan currently has some serious diaper rash going on on her 'area.' Mary thought it might be her diaper liners we put b/w her diapers and bum to catch some major poo...and she might be right. We are switching to disposables for a few days to see if that helps. She also went to bed with a cloth diaper on but no liner. We thought it might be safe since she pooed right before bed.

Morgan has her 6-month shots tomorrow. She'll be 7 months old the following day. Gotta love a doctor who's out of town for 2 weeks and then a sick child to push the ol' shots back a month. :-/ Not looking forward to the tears. Mom or baby.

I officially have 13 days of work left until my school year is over. Then 2 more days in June, at least 4-6 in July, and then back to the grind August 16th. See? It doesn't seem that long when you break it down like that. I'm excited though - Morgan and I are planning some road trips while Adam travels and it should be fun!

Morgan and I went to stroller strides on Saturday and it was significantly harder than the first time I went. I am still sore today. And love it. I also went to the chiro today for the last time and got the all-clear. Woo hoo! I still have to go back here and there to make sure things are fine due to the pre-arthritis going on but I'm not too worried.

Work is making me a little crazy at the moment. My boss continues to question if I'm working 8 hour days and it's infuriating. I'm one of the most straight-laced, work my time, great work-ethics people you'll meet. I know there are other people within the agency that don't come close to a 40 hour week and have gotten away with it for some time. That's all I have to say about that. But seriously. Someone's gonna get it soon if I get asked one. more. time.

Ok. It's almost 9pm. I still have to cut Adam's hair and even though Morgan STTN the past three nights, I'm still pretty tired. So off I go, and likely I'll try to post pictures tomorrow night instead. :) Sorry faithful picture seekers.

Hello Hormones. You can leave now.

There are so many positives to motherhood. I have a beautiful baby girl who is growing and changing every day. She makes me grow and change as an individual as well. That said, I have noticed a few things and it's finally come to a head so discuss away. Here I go.

So shortly after my friend, Meg's, wedding, I went down to nursing Morgan only in the morning and at night. Within days, my "monthly friend," otherwise known as AF, paid a visit. My "visits" are usually long, around 7 days. So a 8-9 day visit was just part of getting back into the swing of things...or so I thought. It FINALLY went away...only to return 3 days later. Another full visit. Adam was concerned but I told him it was probably just my body getting back into the swing of things. Then I had a week off...and it came back today. That's 3 times in about 5 weeks! UGH. So I called the doctor and spoke with the nurse who said that's normal after having a baby especially with nursing as long as I have.

Next course of action - I have about a week and a half left of this round of the "mini-pill" which is a lower dose pill that allows me to take it and nurse. I have decided that I will go back to my regular pill after this round...however, that means no more nursing. I have sort of been looking for a reason to be done and this one seems like a fine one. I was a little sad for this then after I realized that we would be done. It will be fine. I'm just feeling a little nostalgic at the moment. I think it's b/c it's another step toward her not being a tiny little baby anymore. She's going to be a big girl before I know it and suddenly that's really hard as I type this and cry a little. She's just doing so many more things and while I'm so excited, it's crazy to think how fast she's growing. Sigh.

That sort of brings me to my last point of this post. (don't worry - positives in the next one, I promise.) This week and a little of last I have noticed that I'm super quick to be angry and hormonal and whatnot. The slightest things have set me off at home...usually the dogs. Sometimes Morgan when she won't sleep in the middle of the night. Other times Adam. Morgan has been up kind of a lot the past several nights...but the mood swings have been really getting to me and I've started praying about them. Hopefully it's just that "Seefeldt temper" in me and I'll just keep it under control like usual. Maybe once I'm on my pill again things will be better - damn hormones. :)

That said, I'm going to go be sad that my little girl is growing up so very fast before my very eyes. I'm so proud of her. I love her so much. The end.

Holy Co-Pays

So I added it up today and our family is on track for EIGHT co-pays this month for doctor's visits. Adam has one for tomorrow to finally get checked out and see why he is still sick and not improving, I've had two and have one more for my back/chiro, and Morgan now has four racked up after she has her final visit for shots next week. :-/ Morgan had to go in today b/c the sitter thought she might have a fungal infection on her cheeks (which could/would be super contagious - made me nervous for nursing!)...but after getting it checked, it turns out she just has dry skin. Recommendation - stop using wipes to clean her face and keep it dry but with lotion.

Like I said, Adam is still super sick. Sad sick hubby.

Morgan ate TWO meals today besides a normal amount of formula. She also nursed really well at both opportunities which makes me think that maybe I can hold out for a little longer yet. I never would have guessed that I would make it to 7 months nursing her...which is next week already (gasp). We shall see. I'm willing to bet that after she's done being sick, if she goes a few days with poor nursing, I'm likely to be done. We shall see. I'm just glad she was able to eat as much as she did today which hopefully means that she will sleep a little later tomorrow morning. :-)

PS. Can I just say how much I love that merely looking at Morgan now elicits giggles and giant smiles? Makes my heart grow three sizes each time.

Happy Mother's Day to me!

And to all the other mommies out there, the women who are stand in mommies, and any woman who is brave and strong enough to care for others. I used to think that Mother's Day was sort of one of those holidays where society made it so huge so as to generate revenue, but it was very nice today to say what I wanted to do and just have a great day.

A few not-so-great moments just for fun -

1. Adam comes in the house. Looks around. He had been cutting the grass and while I was watching the baby and it had been rather quiet. I thought he had just run out of gas again. Nope. Lawn mower was in the creek. WHAT?!? Thankfully he hadn't rolled it in (we have huge hills)...he just drove it in. :) And pulled it out just as easily. Thank God. :)
2. Morgan did NOT go to sleep well. She is also self-weaning. She shows little interest in nursing anymore and only stays latched on for maybe 15 seconds before pulling off. I'm having a hard time telling whether or not it's b/c she's congested or truly just done nursing. She readily takes the bottle sometimes over me. New goal - get her through the rest of this illness and weaned.
3. Adam's still pretty sick. This is unlike him. I think that since I've gone through all the sickness from my students for the past how many years, I might get to dodge a few bullets...Adam, however, might not be so lucky with the illnesses that Morgan brings home. :-/
   

The greats of the day -

I have a beautiful baby girl who was SO happy and smiley today. Seriously - the cow on her exersaucer was the FUNNIEST thing for quite some time. Picture this...bounce bounce bounce...grab cow...pull to mouth and chew...let go...GIGGLE. Repeat. And every time I came into the room, BIIIIGGGG smiles and sometimes even a giggle. It's so great that she's feeling better (finally!)...now if only she'd eat more than 3.5 oz of food a day (besides formula).

I'm still not sick. I had a tickle in my throat this morning. I know it's coming...but for now if I can hold it off, that would be great.

I am now within sight of my sexy "old body" jeans. Which means I need to kick it in the rear so I can FIT my rear in my new jeans before baby #2 comes along (which will be for some time, btw). Good thing Morgan knows where to shop. ;-) Bye bye remaining 7-8 lbs!!

While she's not eating well, Morgan continues to drink enough to keep me from panicking too much. Whew. She also doesn't like her homemade food right now b/c it's too "bumpy" on the back of her very irritated throat. Rats. So much for making progress on her textures. :-/

Morgan showed some progress towards crawling today...not huge progress, but it was good to see her be strong enough and not sick anymore to at least try working on crawling again.

Morgan continues to play and play and play. She's more independent every day which makes me nervous that I'm not spending enough time with her teaching her things. However, sometimes it's so lovely to be able to run do something and come back to a baby who's still smiling but trying to reach a toy she has pushed/banged out of her reach. Silly baby.

Today was nice. Adam's parents were here and so we went out for breakfast with Jason and Julie. Morgan's new favorite thing when we go out to eat is having water from a straw (not sucking). She is surprised by the cold every time but opens her mouth like a little bird for more several times. We then came home, Morgan took a nap, and then we did presents with Adam's parents (mom) before they left. Then we just had an easy day around the house and it was great. It was so nice that the house was already cleaned and I didn't have to spend the day rushing through a list while trading off taking care of the baby and Adam's chores.

I rotated Morgan's dresser and she now has a new wardrobe. Lucky duck. But it's super cute stuff that requires warmer weather. Hurry up warmer weather! Please stay instead of going back and forth from cold to warm.

Alright...that should be enough for one night. Baby's restless so it could be a long one. Poor thing. She had a hard time going to sleep and managed to stuff herself all up. I think if she was eating regularly we'd be on to something, but after seeing the blister in her throat on Thursday, I can see why she wouldn't. On that note, I had a lovely first Mother's Day. I'm pretty sure I'm one of the luckiest people I know. :)

Quick Sick Child Update

• Morgan is still sick but I think turned a corner this morning. How do I know? (gross) There was no snot dried to her face when she got up and it had turned back to clear quickly after she got up. Sweet.
• She's got a virus that created a huge blister on the back of her throat. Sad. And as a result of all the drainage, she has a secondary left ear infection. And does not take amoxicillin well. Hmm. :-/
  
• At her doctor's visit (well check) on Thursday (no shots b/c she was sick) she had the following stats: 26.5" long (66th percentile - she went down!! Oh no!), 17.8lbs. (83rd percentile). I can't remember her head circumference but Adam thought it was in the 80s for percentile. Of course. Poor kid's got a large brain. Not poor kid. :)
• She had lots of ear wax in her ear again (same on Tues) and the doctor had to dig and dig and dig to get it all out so she could see her ear drum. She cried and cried and screamed and we both had to hold her down the whole time. I was really glad Adam was there b/c I almost cried.
  
• Like I said - no shots this time. I have to take her in 2 weeks for 5 minutes of hell - shots. NOT looking forward to this one.
  
• Morgan is not eating well at all. I can understand this b/c of the blister(s), but for some reason, I panic if she doesn't eat at least a decent amount. Adam and I are trying to get me over it, but it's a slow process. I don't know why I have this obsession. I think it might be b/c when she was little, she slept better if she ate well. She'd sleep fine now if she ate or not, but still - I worry if she doesn't eat. She's been about a bottle behind each day...anyway, my monkey isn't eating and it's causing me anxiety. :-/
• Adam's been sick as well with a bad sore throat. Yesterday after he got home from work (he should have left earlier b/c he was sick but didn't), he had a low-grade fever and took it easy. In fact, he and Morgan took a nap for almost an hour while I puttered around and cleaned. Lovely. :-) It felt really good to just clean and not have to check in with the baby or trade off so Adam could get a chore done. It's not something I want to do all the time, but it was nice this once.
  
• Adam's parents are here this weekend and it's great. We LOVE having people to visit and it's been nice having them here. Adam and his dad went golfing this morning while Sherri and I hung out at home with the baby. I made carrots, cauliflower, and zucchini for Morgan. It was great having someone around and I asked if they were interested in moving to Muscatine...now I'm just waiting on a response on how to make Morgan her avacadoes I bought her....I heard babies love them. I'd like to love them too but have NO idea.
  

Ok, off to get ready for the QCs. We're going to go for lunch and some shopping before coming home for dinner, wine, and games. Sigh. I love the weekends. Especially when A) my house is clean FRIDAY instead of SUNDAY and B) when I go back to work on Monday, there are only FOUR weeks of work left. :) 3 of those are student weeks and the last week is for meetings, winding down/organizing for fall, and whatever else needs wrapping up. :-D

No teeth. Still sick.

Poor sad sick baby. Last night was interesting. We gave Morgan Tylenol (generic b/c the other kind we had was recalled) and thank God we had it b/c her fever went up and up throughout the night. At 12:30am, she started crying and when I made it up there, she was burning up and not breathing well. We immediately gave her more Tylenol and worked on cooling her down. We made a call to Grandma Sherri and then AskANurse (24-7 hotline) and after getting the baby naked and hanging out with her for an hour or so, she went back down until 5:15am. While she was up from 12:30-1:30, she told us all about the crazy dreams she had had and what she was going to play at daycare today.

At 5:15am, Morgan's fever had broken but we gave her Tylenol again to make sure it stayed that way. Back in her carseat shortly and asleep again. So then Adam and I go up to get her at 6:30am for daycare and guess where the wiggle worm is? Not in her car seat...but on her mattress with her feet facing the car seat. How on EARTH she had managed this without crying/fussing/making tons of noise is beyond us. Silly child.

So off to our normal routine we go and Mary promised to call if anything changed. I called at lunch and Morgan had slept all morning after a good breakfast. She had kept her temp down all day until about 3:15. Mary was lovely enough to keep her until I got there since her temp was still in the 99s...but when we got home it was 100.9 again. I called the doctor's office but it was busy time and again so I just grabbed Morgan and went. I figured if I showed up with a sad, sick little baby that they'd have to take us in. :) I was right. Long story short - her ears were fine (although the wax she cleaned out was almost as bad as if she had cut Morgan's arm off...don't go IN her ears! Anyone!) as were her lungs. I'm glad she wasn't terribly concerned and was happy to hear that Morgan's 6 month well-check is on Thursday.

So we took the monkey home and through all her snot, watery eyes, coughing, etc, she was happy and giggly for the most part. She ate a decent dinner, not huge, not even normal, but she ate and had a bottle and was doing all right. Definitely sad to look at her though. She took a bath and has a new thing she likes to do - flip backwards while sitting and let the water catch her. However, the water wasn't deep enough tonight so it was a good thing my hand was there (as always) b/c then her head only bumped a little bit instead of a big thud. :) Silly monkey.

So that's that for tonight. I still have some things to do so off I go. It's Adam's turn on the computer. :) Can I also just say how thankful I am to have him home? I really am. Morgan and the pups are too. :)

Is this it??

Poor, sad, sick baby. Let me preface. Last night she was up at 3:30am for a nuk/love/something and went right back to sleep on her own. A half hour later I was up again with a for-real crying baby. I went up to get her and she could hardly breathe. I suctioned her (cry) and then just held her upright so she could drain it all out. She, in turn, LOVED this and proceeded to tell me about each dream she'd had and what she was going to do with her friends at Mary's today. Finally, after about a 1/2 hour, she sounded clearer so I put her in her car seat (in the crib) that Adam had brought up and decided to let her cry for a while. Two cries, a squeak, and some seconds later, she had put her fully awake self to sleep. I'm crazy proud of her that she is able to do this with fairly good accuracy.

So then I went to pick the monkey up today and she had boogies all over the place. She had just woken up and Mary said she hadn't been congested or icky all day. I wiped off her face for the next 45 minutes or so and after a bottle/butt change, we went to Walmart to get some new Tylenol (due to the recall) which was gone - thank goodness we had the brains along (Julie) who suggested asking behind the pharmacy counter for some...we got the generic kind for 25% of what the normal kind was. Cha-ching! Thanks, Jewels. ;) I was worried we'd need some tonight b/c of her nose issues...unfortunately, I was right.

By the time we got home after 6:15pm for her supper, Morgan was starting to feel hotter than normal. So I changed her diaper and took her temp, and sure enough, 100.3. Uh oh. So I gave her dinner which she ate readily but not as much as a "Morgan meal." She drank a good amount of milk/formula and was super happy the whole time. Mommy shaking her head no no no made her giggle and then once she even imitated me! So despite whatever this is, she's still my happy little girl...but by bedtime around 7:30pm, her temp had risen to 100.8 so hopefully the Tylenol that Grandma Sherri suggested I give her will work.

She's still super congested though. Sad little thing. Adam and I have prepared ourselves for a long night. Mary suggested we check her at 4.5 hrs post-Tylenol so up at 11:30pm we go. Is this the alleged "teeth" gaining incident? Who knows. Mary doesn't seem to think she has an ear infection (I agree) and it's not cold/flu season. It really could be. She was biting my finger extra hard while bored at Walmart. Who knows. Time will tell!

On a GREAT note though, my back is doing better. I was careful to stretch a time or two at work today and I went to a chiro in Muscatine so as not to have to travel to Bettendorf every time I want to see Travis (my SLP friend's husband). He said much of what Travis said but also took some x-rays...to which he found that I have preliminary arthritis in my back! Just in one spot...and he recommended that it's just something to keep an eye on at this point. Dang. Just when I was feeling old...now I feel really old. But at least I can walk and carry the baby!!! A bajillion times better than before!!

Work, which I don't want to discuss at the moment, is not so great. It's not so much what's going on right now (although some of it is) but more to do with how next year is going to look. I'm 99% sure I won't be getting any extra 0-3 time like I asked...I'm 40% sure I will not have my favorite school, Wilson, next year. I'm 80% sure I'll still have the high school next year (really DON'T like this assignment). I said I wasn't going to talk about it. So I'm done.

Here's to hoping the baby feels better and this is just teeth coming in. And that it's not too painful for the little monkey. :-/

Growing Girl...sniffle sniffle....

Oh dear. I have a lot to post about so I'll make it as brief as I can...but we know I am long-winded so here goes. :)

Morgan's godmother Steph and her husband Patt came to visit us this weekend and we had a GREAT time!! We went to a farmer's market in the QCs where I bought the dogs some crazy expensive treats and Morgan a headband with an attachable flower that was as big as her face. SOOOOOO cute. Adam hates it. Clearly I didn't care b/c she now owns it and wore it the rest of the day. :)

Now comes the "woe is us" part...and it's long. :-/ We have always talked about Morgan being such a big girl, she's growing so fast, blah blah blah. However, this past week and especially weekend, Morgan really showed us how BIG she's getting...

• Adam put Morgan's little lamb swing in the basement for storage as she has used it once in the past 3 weeks. Once it was there and there was a big gaping hole in our tiny living room, it made me tear up a little.
• A few weeks ago I put the bumbo seat and boppy pillow upstairs since Morgan is now sitting on her own for tens of minutes. She still takes the occasional tumble but as long as she's seated somewhere away from a sharp edge or something hard.
  
• This weekend was a fun milestone - Morgan now understands that when she bangs on a musical toy, it will make the music she wants to hear. She now has a new love for the drum her Uncle Tommy got her for Christmas as well as the rest of the new toys we picked up this weekend b/c of her new skills.
  
• Morgan has a love/hate relationship with textures. She has no problem with her pureed foods...but I am making them a little thicker/bumpier and she's not too thrilled. Oh well! A girlie's gotta learn sometime. She then LOVED her stars and now doesn't like them so much. We got these cracker-like things that dissolve called Mummums and she liked them so much...but now they're too "texture-y" and she doesn't like them. Sigh. Silly child. She'll get it.
  
• Add strawberries to Morgan's list of foods. Pureed, of course. She really enjoyed them in her cereal this morning. She did NOT enjoy them plain at lunch time.
• Like I said before, Morgan sits on her own for tens of minutes at a time. She is usually pretty content there as long as there are toys within reach. She's not motivated enough yet to get any pre-crawling moves in, but she pushes herself up very high when on her belly and is starting to bend her legs here and there...now if only she could lift that bum genius hiney of hers off the ground...
• But she is able to be on all 4s with a little help from mom to get her knees bent and under her. It's pretty cool and she looks at her hands, looks at me. Looks at hands, looks at me. All the while I'm trying to send her ESP signals to lift a hand/knee and go forward. :) All in good time. No rush here.
  
• Morgan's imitating more and more every day. This weekend she started to imitate movements (ie. banging on the drum) and she continues to imitate sounds. It gives me high hopes for her first sign...which I need to do more consistently or the poor thing will just skip to talking.
  
• FINALLY. (and of course I will write this and she'll go back to it)...Her stranger danger decreased this weekend. A lot. Actually, it was the mid-end of last week when she was completely ok with going to Julie. I thought it was the tall, blond person-type but then she was fine with going to Steph and Patt right away...and then to Jason tonight. So hopefully she's starting to get over her stranger danger and be a little more social to others that are not the same size as her or fuzzy.
  
• Lastly, there was a Tylenol recall and of course we have the bad kind. Great. On a week when she's got shots (Thursday) and I've already done all my errand-running for the week. Sigh. Back to Walmart/Walgreens we go.
• Still no teeth. Still pretending to be teething. Still being asked by everyone and their brother if she's teething. The child chews on everything and has since she was 3.5 months old. Sigh. She's going to need dentures. :)
  

So there you have it. Morgan's getting huge. And I know it won't end. It makes me crazy proud that we are able to provide for her and make her grow and flourish. I'm so proud when I am told that she is such a happy baby, so cute, oh/ah smiley baby...when we are out and about. We continue to be amazed by her each and every day. Poor Adam...it was hard for him to be away from her this week and then come home to see how much she had changed/learned/grown. We are so lucky...